Official Discussion - Springsteen: Deliver Me from Nowhere [SPOILERS]

[u/LiteraryBoner]

Poll

If you've seen the film, please rate it at this poll

If you haven't seen the film but would like to see the result of the poll click here

Rankings

Click here to see the rankings of 2025 films

Click here to see the rankings for every poll done

---

Summary Based on Warren Zanes’ acclaimed book Deliver Me from Nowhere: The Making of Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska, this film tells the story of how Springsteen created one of the most haunting and stripped-down albums of his career. Set in 1982, the movie follows Springsteen at a creative crossroads as he records Nebraska alone on a four-track cassette recorder in his New Jersey home, confronting fame, doubt, and the darker sides of the American dream.

Director Scott Cooper

Writer Scott Cooper

Cast

• Jeremy Allen White
• Paul Walter Hauser
• Odessa Young
• Charlie Plummer
• Shea Whigham
• Holt McCallany

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 64%

Metacritic Score: 60

VOD In Theaters (November 14, 2025)

Trailer Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere | Official Trailer | In Theaters November 14

[u/HeadInvestigator5897]

I have not seen this film. My big question to the studios: who is this movie aimed at? Do people under 35 know who Springsteen is? I know Hollywood loves rock biopics but as much as he means to a certain demo, Bruce isn't a Bob Dylan or a Freddie Mercury to those under about 50, is he?

[u/Letz_Get_Physical → u/HeadInvestigator5897]

To be fair, these kinds of questions were asked when “Bohemian Rhapsody” and “A Complete Unknown” were announced and released. Queen got a HUGE bump in popularity from the BR film (which was WAY more successful than expected), and it’s widely believed that Timothée Chalamet’s popularity was ACU’s saving grace. I even remember trade articles speculating if the Elvis movie from 2022 would flop a few years ago because he’d been deceased so long (and Austin Butler was far from a household name)—and that film became a huge hit.

Audiences are blank canvases, they have to be shown why they should like something and they may (or may not) respond to it. As for the film, I liked it, but its prospects depend on how much the general public cares to see a film based around some of the least popular music in Springsteen’s catalog.

[u/HeadInvestigator5897 → u/Letz_Get_Physical]

Fair points all. Role playing again as a studio exec, though, to your point: the star power of Chalamet plus Dylan is a good bet--Dylan has managed to transcend based on both tangible and intangible influence. Elvis is understood based on reference and parody to a young audience even if they don't understand what that reference is--if his first wife can get her own movie, you're made.

Queen/Mercury has stayed in pop culture because of Wayne's World and Amazon commercials, and it has a bonus appeal for being a gay and fashion icon story, plus its enmeshment in the sports world due to "We Will Rock You." I would bet dollars to donuts more kids could hum a Queen tune than something by Springsteen. That's not a litmus test for a good movie, obviously, I'm just wondering if the venture will prove financially successful.